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Thursday, March 3, 2011

My unfinished sketch of the pot of hen-and-chicks is moving forward in interrupted increments, as in, whatever time I can grab before and after office hours.

I discover as I paint, what kind of mood I'm in. Sometimes I'm satisfied with a very loose and undefined result, other times I want to see more detail. Most often I like a combination. In this case, I was drawn to the rosette shapes of the flowers and the spilling over, the cascading of the rosettes as they multiply. So I printed a black and white copy of one of my photographs and sketched some rosettes in pencil on the sketch page to get a better feel for their layered petals.

Next, I wanted to reclaim some of the rim of my pot from the too-wet wash that spilled over the edge, as well as, the edge of the lower opening of the pot. Above you see the small size scrub I used. For more about this scrub brush and the process of scrubbing see the link at the end of the post. Below you see the result of lifting out some of the paint with the use of my scrub brush, water, and a tissue for blotting.

I created some loosely defined rosettes in the top of the pot with negative painting, that is, painting the space around the petal rather than the petal itself. This is fun. I believe negative painting and softening edges are two of my favorite approaches to painting.

Below, you see the page spread as it looks today--still unfinished, but becoming more of what I want to see on the page.

Oh! I love this!! Thank you for explaining and showing your process of negative painting. I am working on some Snowdrops right now (in watercolor) and I'm using the negative painting technique. I can see that my approach is absolutely backwards! I can't wait to try it your way :-) Your work is just fantastic!!

Wonder of Hummingbirds Festival

Tennessee Conservationist

Vickie Henderson

Welcome to my Sketchbook!

A sketchbook is a journey into seeing, a place for your heart to come right out onto paper. Is it any wonder we shrink back and hesitate? But here’s one little-known artist's secret--all you have to do is show up, dig in, and get started. The rest will just happen! Sound like a bit of magic? It is. Bring along your sketchbook and join me. See what you discover!